Information and training duty
The statutory obligation on employers to provide employees with comprehensible and relevant information about the risks to their health and safety and the preventive measures in place, and to provide adequate training.
By jurisdiction
UK HSE
“information and training duty”Exact equivalentSection 2(2)(c) of HSWA 1974 requires employers to provide such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of employees. Regulation 13 of MHSWR 1999 sets out the specific duty to provide health and safety training, including induction training and training when the risk changes.
Irish HSA
“information and training duty”Close equivalentSection 8(2)(f) and section 10 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 require employers to provide employees with adequate information, instruction, training and supervision. Training must be adapted to reflect any change in risk.
US OSHA
“employee training requirement”Partial equivalentOSH Act section 5(a) and specific OSHA standards require training. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.132(f) requires training on PPE; 29 CFR 1926.21 requires construction safety training. There is no single general OSHA information and training duty equivalent to HSWA section 2(2)(c); training duties arise from individual standards.
Practitioner note: Comprehensible is part of the legal test. Language, literacy and agency-worker turnover all affect whether the duty is genuinely met.